Egyptian Journal of Petroleum (2015) 24, 203–211

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Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute

Egyptian Journal of Petroleum

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FULL LENGTH ARTICLE

Evaluation of organic matters, hydrocarbon

potential and thermal maturity of source rocks
based on geochemical and statistical methods: Case
study of source rocks in Ras Gharib oilfield, central
Gulf of Suez, Egypt
a,*
Mohamed M. El Nady , Fatma S. Ramadan b, Mahmoud M. Hammad a,
Nira M. Lotfy a

a
Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Nasr City, Hei Al-Zehour, 11727 Cairo, Egypt
b
Geology Dept, Faculty of Science, Zagazig University, Cairo, Egypt

Received 9 February 2014; accepted 9 April 2014

Available online 15 June 2015

KEYWORDS Abstract In this study, we apply geochemical and statistical analyses for evaluating source rocks in
Geochemical; Ras Gharib oilfield. The geochemical analysis includes pyrolysis data as total organic carbon
Statistical; (TOC%), generating source potential (S2), production index (PI), oxygen and hydrogen indices
Cluster; (OI, HI) and (Tmax). The results show that the Cretaceous source rocks are poor to good source
Factor analyses rocks with kerogen of type III and have the capability of generating gas while, the Miocene source
rocks are good to excellent source rocks with kerogen of type III–II and type II and have the capa-
bility of generating oil and gas. The analyzed data were treated statistically to find some factors,
clusters, and relations concerning the evaluation of source rocks. These factors can be classified into
organic richness and type of organic matter, hydrocarbon potentiality and thermal maturity. In
addition, cluster analysis separated the source rocks in the study area into two major groups. (1)
Source rocks characterized by HI >300 (mg/g), TOC from 0.76 to 11.63 wt%, S1 from 0.44 to
9.49 (mg/g) and S2 from 2.59 to 79.61 (mg/g) indicating good to excellent source rocks with kerogen
of type III–II and type II and are capable of generating oil and gas. (2) Source rocks characterized
by HI <300 (mg/g), TOC from 0.31 to 2.07 wt%, S1 from 0.17 to 1.29 (mg/g) and S2 from 0.31 to
3.34 (mg/g) indicating poor to good source rocks with kerogen of type III and are capable of gen-
erating gas. Moreover, Pearson’s correlation coefficient shows a strong positive correlation between

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: elnady1963@live.com (M.M. El Nady).
Peer review under responsibility of Egyptian Petroleum Research
Institute.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.05.012
1110-0621 ª 2015 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
204 M.M. El Nady et al.

TOC and S1, S2 and HI and no correlation between TOC and Tmax, highly negative correlation
between TOC and OI and no correlation between Tmax and HI.
ª 2015 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Egyptian Petroleum Research
Institute. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction organic materials increases during the initial stage of thermal

maturation. In addition, this study is to characterize the rela-
Petroleum geochemistry is used as the fundamental science for tionships between organic material and thermal maturity.
understanding the properties of source rocks, productive and Samples studied include Cretaceous (Nubia’’A’’, Raha and
non productive zones, oil migration (all of which result in more Wata formations) and Miocene (Basal Miocene Beds,
efficient exploration), development of oil fields and sustainable Belayim, South Gharib and Zeit formations) source rocks.
production. The term source rock refers to an organic-rich
fine-grained sedimentary rock which can produce hydrocar- 2. Regional geology
bons due to thermal maturation [1]. Source rock is one of
the main elements of a hydrocarbon system. Therefore, to The Gulf of Suez in Egypt has a north-northwest–south-south
identify a region of hydrocarbon, it is necessary to investigate east orientation and lies at the junction of the African and
the source rock and its characteristics first. Thermal maturity is Arabian plates where it separates the northeast African conti-
the primary factor that determines whether a source rock can nent from the Sinai Peninsula. It has excellent hydrocarbon
produce oil, gas, or condensate [2]. In order to evaluate the potential, with the prospective sedimentary basin area measur-
source rocks various laboratory methods are used. Among ing approximately 19,000 km2, and it is considered as the most
these techniques, Rock–Eval pyrolysis has been widely used prolific oil province rift basin in Africa and the Middle East.
in the industry as a standard method in petroleum exploration This basin contains more than 80 oil fields, with reserves rang-
[3]. From laboratory methods, the Rock–Eval pyrolysis ing from 1350 to less than 1 million bbl; in reservoirs of
method has been extensively used, worldwide, for oil and gas Precambrian to Quaternary age [7]. The lithostratigraphic
exploration in sedimentary basins [4]. This method is used in units in the Gulf of Suez can be subdivided into three megase-
determining the thermal maturation of kerogen. Behar et al. quences: a pre-rift succession (pre-Miocene or Paleozoic-
[4] defined the thermal parameters based on which maximum Eocene), a syn-rift succession (Oligocene–Miocene), and a
temperature (Tmax) can be used to determine the dimensions post-rift succession (Pliocene-Holocene). These units vary in
of the oil window. According to that definition, the Tmax lithology, thickness, areal distribution, depositional
value for the beginning of the oil window is usually
445–435 C, for the peak is 450–445 C, and for the end is
470–450 C [5]. Thermal maturity of samples can be
determined with plotting Tmax values versus HI. In this
study, we used both geochemical and statistical analyses for
evaluating the source rocks in Ras Gharib oilfield.
Although organic matter undergoes many types of evolu-
tion, thermal maturation is important in assessing hydrocar-
bon generation. In the present work, three major
characteristics need to be studied in order to determine the pet-
roleum potential of source rocks: (1) geochemical properties of
organic material, (2) thermal maturation, and (3) the abun-
dance of hydrocarbon. The maturity of organic matter is, how-
ever, one of the most important parameters in the evaluation
of oil–gas [6]. In this study, both geochemical and statistical
analyses were used to discriminate the maturity and hydrocar-
bon potentialities of Cretaceous and Miocene source rocks in
Ras Gharib area that lies between latitudes 28230 –28240 N
and longitudes 33030 –33040 E (Fig. 1). The study area covers
a surface area of about 2.4 km2 in the central part of the
coastal strip of the western side of the Gulf of Suez. Fig. 2
shows the lithostratigraphic column of Ras Gharib oilfield,
compiled from the drilled wells in the study area.
The purpose of this study is to establish reliable indices for
an integrated assessment of organic material for petroleum
potential evaluation and focuses on multivariate statistical
analysis and cross-plots of TOC, and parameters of Rock–
Eval pyrolysis. With experimental and analytical investigation,
we expect to reveal that the values of eight parameters (HI, QI, Figure 1 Location map of the studied wells, Ras Gharib, central
PI, S1, S2 and S1 + S2) increase as the thermal maturity of Gulf of Suez, Egypt.
Organic matters, hydrocarbon potential and thermal maturity of source rocks
Figure 2 Ideal stratigraphic sequence of the Ras Gharib oil field [8].
environment, and hydrocarbon importance [8]. Geological and
geophysical data show that the northern and central Gulf of
Suez consist of several narrow, elongated depositional troughs,
where as the southern part is dominated by a tilt-block terrane,
containing numerous offset linear highs [7].
The hydrocarbon potential of the study area is generally
high because (1) rifting tended to produce both restricted
and open marine settings favorable to source rock accumula-
tion; (2) relatively high geothermal gradients helped convert
organic matter in the source rocks to hydrocarbons; (3) subse-
quent rotational faulting and marginal uplifting produced clas-
tic systems served by the mature shield terranes and formed
shoal areas where porous reef buildups and dolomitized lime-
stone potential reservoirs could develop; (4) rotational faulting
of these units produced structural traps, which were sealed by
onlapping basinal mud rocks or evaporites during later thermal
subsidence of the rift; (5) all faults in the Gulf of Suez are
normal faults. The trapping structures of the numerous oil
205
fields are horsts or tilted fault blocks. The intervening grabens
contain thick accumulations of basinal shales and marls,
producing favorable conditions for rich source rocks [9,10].
3. Materials and methods
In this study, ‘‘25’’ ditch samples were obtained from five wells
in the study area (Fig. 1) representing Cretaceous (Nubia’’A’’,
Raha and Wata formations) and Miocene (Basal Miocene
Beds, Belayim, South Gharib and Zeit formations) source
rocks. About 70 mg from each sample was analyzed using a
Rock–Eval/TOC 6 version. Total organic content (TOC) was
determined and S1, S2, S3 and Tmax values were obtained
(Table 1). Parameter S1 is the amount of free hydrocarbon
(mg HC/g rock) liberated at 300 C (without cracking the
kerogen). S2 is the amount of hydrocarbon released from
cracking of kerogen (mg HC/g rock) and heavy hydrocarbons
during temperature programed pyrolysis (300–600 C) and
206 M.M. El Nady et al.

Table 1 Rock–Eval pyrolysis data for Cretaceous and Miocene source rocks.
Age Sample type Formations Well name Depth ‘‘m’’ TOC ‘‘wt%’’ S1 S2 S1 + S2 Tmax OI HI PI
Miocene Ditch South Gharib Gharib-252 642 2.29 3.06 10.88 13.94 423 97 475 0.22
and Zeit Gharib-153 1510 0.31 0.24 0.55 0.79 409 100 177 0.3
Belayim Gharib-252 669 0.76 0.44 2.59 3.03 421 93 341 0.14
Gharib-163 2050 2.26 1.3 8.79 10.09 421 12 389 0.13
2150 3.43 2.27 15.19 17.46 425 31 443 0.13
2080 1.12 0.8 2.89 3.69 410 70 258 0.22
Gharib-153 2000 2.81 2.6 16.01 18.61 418 23 570 0.14
1970 1.53 1.04 5.63 6.67 409 41 368 0.16
Gharib-164 1740 1.64 0.87 4.39 5.26 413 64 268 0.17
Gharib-165 2350 0.97 0.88 3.24 4.12 418 41 334 0.21
Gharib-252 711 2.22 5.88 9.26 15.44 423 135 417 0.39
Basal Miocene Gharib-163 2400 11.63 9.49 79.61 89 427 10 685 0.11
Beds 2250 1.11 0.22 0.86 1.08 434 128 77 0.2
Gharib-153 2090 1.38 0.94 3.34 4.28 417 75 242 0.22
Gharib-164 1800 6.9 7.19 37.35 44.54 418 12 541 0.16
Gharib-165 2750 2.07 0.17 1.51 1.68 434 138 73 0.1
Cretaceous Ditch Wata Gharib-252 774 1.46 0.73 1.68 2.41 427 88 115 0.3
Gharib-164 2050 1.5 0.78 5.81 6.59 426 70 387 0.12
Raha Gharib-252 837 1.41 1.29 3.33 3.7 409 129 236 0.28
Gharib-153 2270 1.52 0.45 3.25 3.47 419 50 214 0.12
Gharib-164 2260 1.41 0.32 3.15 4.62 427 65 223 0.09
Gharib-165 3100 0.74 0.21 0.48 0.69 421 80 65 0.31
Nubia ‘‘A’’ Gharib-153 2380 0.73 0.22 0.31 0.83 418 144 179 0.19
Gharib-164 2480 1 0.3 1.16 1.46 423 60 116 0.2
Gharib-165 3280 0.65 0.3 0.53 1.53 420 72 82 0.36

represents the existing potential of a rock to generate petro-
leum. Peters and Cassa [5] believed that S2 is a more realistic
TOC because TOC includes ‘‘dead carbon’’ incapable of
generating petroleum. S3 represents the amount of CO2 from
breaking carboxyl groups and other oxygen-containing
compounds in kerogen, obtained at 300–390 C. TOC is deter-
mined by oxidizing the pyrolysis residue in a second oven
(600 C in air). The hydrogen index (HI) is the normalized
S2 value (S2/TOC), expressed in mg HC/gTOC. The oxygen
index (OI) is related to the amount of oxygen in the kerogen
and is the normalized S3 value (S3/TOC), expressed in mg
CO2/gTOC. The production index (PI) shows the level of ther-
mal maturation. The S2/S3 values indicate the type of organic
matter for low to moderately mature samples [11]. The gener-
ative source potential of the source rocks in the present study
are adopted according to Peters [12] and Gogoi et al. [13].
Analytical data are assigned to the SPSS/PC (statistical
Package for Social Sciences) program to carry out the factor
and cluster analysis. In addition to Pearson’s correlation coef-
ficient ‘‘r’’ between different parameters in order to: (1) quan-
tify the relationship between petroleum potential and maturity,
and (2) analyses diagrams of HI, QI, I versus maturity [14].
4.1.1. Quality and quantity of organic matter
The organic carbon richness of the rock samples (TOC%), is
important in the evaluation of sediments as a source for petro-
leum. Tissot and Welte [5], Peters and Cassa [6] and Peters [15]
presented a scale for the assessment of source rocks potential-
ity, based on the TOC% and Rock–Eval pyrolysis data, such
as S1 and S2.
The obtained data in Table 1 show that the total organic
carbon content values for the Cretaceous source rocks are
between 0.65 and 1.52 wt% indicating fair to good source
rocks. While the values for the Miocene source rocks are
between 1.11 and 11.63 wt% only three samples have values
less than 1 wt% indicating good to excellent source rocks.
This conclusion is confirmed by the plot of TOC (wt%) versus
S2 (Fig. 3a). On the other hand, the plot of S1 versus TOC
(Fig. 3b) can be used to discriminate between non-
indigenous (allochthonous) and indigenous hydrocarbons
(autochthonous) [16,17]. This relation shows that the majority
of the studied rock samples for the Cretaceous and Miocene
source rocks were characterized by allochthonous hydrocar-
bons indicating that the oil produced from the studied wells
are migrated from another source rock.

4. Results and discussion 4.1.2. Generating potentialities

4.1. Geochemical methods
In order to evaluate the organic carbon content and source
rock maturity different factors including quality and quantity
of organic matter, generating potentialities, type of organic
matter and thermal maturation were considered.
The generation potential of a source rock is identified using the
results of pyrolysis analysis. The genetic potential (GP) is the
sum of the values S1 and S2. According to Hunt [15] source
rocks with a GP <2, from 2 to 5, from 5 to 10 and >10 are
considered to have poor, fair, good, and very good generation
potential, respectively. The relationship between (S1 + S2)
and TOC [18]. (Fig. 4a) shows that the Cretaceous source
Organic matters, hydrocarbon potential and thermal maturity of source rocks 207

Figure 3 Quality and quantity of organic matter of Cretaceous and Miocene source rocks, Ras Gharib area, Gulf of Suez, Egypt.

rocks are considered as fair to good source potential while the
Miocene source rocks are considered as good to excellent
source potential except few samples that are considered as
poor source potential. On the other hand, the plot of TOC
(wt%) versus HI mg/g (Fig. 4b) shows that the Cretaceous
source rocks are fair oil source rocks while the Miocene source
rocks ranged from fair to good oil source rocks.
4.1.3. Genetic type of organic matter
The initial genetic type of organic matter of a particular source
rock is essential for the prediction of oil and gas potential.
Waples [18] used the hydrogen index values (HI) to differenti-
ate between the types of organic matter. Hydrogen indices
<150 mg/g indicate a potential source for generating gas
(mainly type III kerogen). Hydrogen indices between 150
and 300 mg/g contain more type III kerogen than type II
and therefore are capable of generating mixed gas and oil
but mainly gas. Kerogen with hydrogen indices >300 mg/g
contains a substantial amount of type II macerals and thus
are considered to have good source potential for generating
oil and minor gas. Kerogen with hydrogen indices
>600 mg/g usually consists of nearly type I or type II kerogen,
they have excellent potential to generate oil.
In this study, we used Langford and Blanc-Valleron [19,20]
kerogen type diagram which represents the plot TOC versus S2
(Fig. 5a).This diagram shows that the Cretaceous source rocks
are characterized by kerogen of type III and mixed type III/II,
while the Miocene source rocks are characterized by type II
and type III/II. Based on pyrolysis data kerogen classification
diagrams were constructed using the HI versus OI plot as
carried out by Van Krevelen [21], which is used to determine
the kerogen type (Fig. 5b). The results show that the analyzed
Cretaceous samples are generally plotted under type III
kerogen, while the analyzed Miocene samples are plotted in
kerogen of type II–III and type II.
4.1.4. Thermal maturation
The generation of petroleum from the organic matter during
its burial history is a part of the overall process of thermal
metamorphism of organic matter [6]. The concentration and
distribution of hydrocarbons contained in a particular source
depend on both the type of the organic matter and its degree
of thermal alteration [6,19]. In the present study, the thermal
maturity level of the source rocks has been determined by
the study of the geochemical parameters as Rock–Eval temper-
ature pyrolysis ‘‘Tmax’’, production index ‘‘PI’’ [15,22]. Peters

Figure 4 Generating potentialities of Cretaceous and Miocene source rocks, Ras Gharib area, Gulf of Suez, Egypt.
208
Figure 5 Genetic type of organic matter of Cretaceous and Miocene source rocks, Ras Gharib area, Gulf of Suez, Egypt.
[12] and Espitalie et al. [22] reported that oil generation from
source rocks began at Tmax = 435–465 C, and production
index ‘‘PI’’ between 0.2 and 0.4, the organic matters are in
immature stage when ‘‘Tmax’’ has a value less than 435 C,
and ‘‘PI’’ less than 0.2 and the gas generation from source
rocks began at ‘‘Tmax’’ 470 C, and production index ‘‘PI’’
more than 0.4.
Based on pyrolysis data kerogen classification diagrams
were constructed using the HI versus Tmax plot as carried
out by previous workers [22] which is used to determine the
kerogen type and maturity (Fig. 6a). The results show that
the analyzed Cretaceous samples are generally plotted in the
immature zone of type III kerogen, while the analyzed
Miocene samples are plotted in the immature zone grading
to marginally mature zone with kerogen of type II–III and type
II. The plot of Tmax versus PI diagram [12,18] (Fig. 6b) shows
that the Cretaceous source rocks are immature source rocks
while, the Miocene source rocks ranged from immature to
marginally mature.
4.2. Statistical methods
In this study we used different methods including cluster anal-
ysis, factor analysis, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient.
Figure 6 Thermal maturation of Cretaceous and Miocene source rocks, Ras Gharib area, Gulf of Suez, Egypt.
M.M. El Nady et al.
4.2.1. Cluster analysis
Cluster analysis is a statistical method of partitioning a sample
into homogeneous classes to produce an operational classifica-
tion. In this study we used Hierarchical cluster analysis. This is
the major statistical method for finding relatively homoge-
neous clusters of cases based on measured characteristics. It
starts with each case as a separate cluster, i.e. there are as many
clusters as cases, and then combines the clusters sequentially,
reducing the number of clusters at each step until only one
cluster is left. The clustering method uses the dissimilarities
or distances between objects when forming the clusters. The
SPSS program calculates ‘distances’ between data points in
terms of the specified variables. A hierarchical tree diagram,
called a dendrogram on SPSS, can be produced to show the
linkage points. The clusters are linked at increasing levels of
dissimilarity [23].
Applying Hierarchical cluster analyses on the studied sam-
ples shows two clusters reflect two types of source rocks
(Fig. 7, Table 2). Cluster I are source rocks characterized by
HI >300 (mg/g), TOC from 0.76 to 11.63 wt%, S1 from
0.44 to 9.49 (mg/g) and S2 from 2.59 to 79.61 (mg/g) indicating
good to excellent source rocks with kerogen of type III–II and
type II and are capable of generating oil and gas ‘‘Miocene
source rocks’’. Cluster II are source rocks characterized by
Organic matters, hydrocarbon potential and thermal maturity of source rocks 209

HI <300 (mg/g), TOC from 0.31 to 2.07 wt%, S1 from 0.17 to

Table 2 Cluster membership.
1.29 (mg/g) and S2 from 0.31 to 3.34 (mg/g) indicating poor to
good source rocks with kerogen of type III and are capable of Case number Well name Cluster Distance
generating gas ‘‘Cretaceous source rocks’’. 1 Gharib-252 1 53.532
2 Gharib-153 2 18.455
4.2.2. Factor analysis 3 Gharib-163 1 117.711
4 Gharib-163 1 73.171
Factor analysis is a statistical procedure used to identify a
5 Gharib-163 1 22.094
small number of factors that can be used to represent relation- 6 Gharib-153 2 94.667
ships among sets of interrelated variables. Applying factor 7 Gharib-153 1 123.352
analysis on Rock–Eval pyrolysis variables shows that there 8 Gharib-165 1 84.402
are three factors affecting the evaluation of source rocks 9 Gharib-165 2 105.512
(Table 3). Factor ‘‘1’’ includes variables TOC ‘‘wt%, S1, S2 10 Gharib-164 1 117.432
which determine the organic richness and hydrocarbon poten- 11 Gharib-252 1 90.377
tiality of source rocks and also HI which determines the type 12 Gharib-163 1 246.820
of organic matter that characterizes source rocks. Factor 2 13 Gharib-163 2 97.759
and Factor 3 include variables PI and Tmax which reflect 14 Gharib-153 2 77.513
15 Gharib-164 1 101.266
the maturity of source rocks. So, factor analysis shows that
16 Gharib-165 2 105.550
evaluating the source rocks depends on determining organic 17 Gharib-252 2 51.589
richness, hydrocarbon potentialities, type of organic matter, 18 Gharib-164 1 67.028
and thermal maturity. 19 Gharib-252 2 80.743
20 Gharib-153 2 62.588
4.2.3. Pearson’s correlation coefficient 21 Gharib-164 2 62.659
Pearson’s correlation coefficient is a statistical measure of the 22 Gharib-165 2 101.603
23 Gharib-153 2 55.384
strength of a linear relationship between paired data. The
24 Gharib-164 2 58.561
correlation coefficient can range from 1 to +1, with 1 25 Gharib-165 2 86.036
indicating a perfect negative correlation, +1 indicating a
perfect positive correlation, and 0 indicating no correlation

Figure 7 Hierarchical cluster analysis dendrogram using average linkage (between groups).
210 M.M. El Nady et al.

Table 3 R-mode factor analysis of Cretaceous and Miocene source rocks.

Variable Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3
TOC ‘‘wt%’’ 0.935 0.236 0.158
S1 0.986 0.037 0.023
S2 0.944 0.220 0.094
Tmax 0.084 0.071 0.959
HI 0.793 0.372 0.215
OI 0.423 0.704 0.333
PI 0.069 0.907 0.275
Eigen value 3.556 1.568 1.186
Of variance% 50.799 22.400 16.948
Cumulative% 50.799 73.199 90.147

Table 4 Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) between Rock–Eval parameters for the studied samples.
Variable TOC S1 S2 Tmax HI OI PI
TOC 1
S1 0.902 1
S2 0.988 0.899 1
Tmax 0.213 0.102 0.154 1
HI 0.716 0.785 0.742 0.089 1
OI 0.506 0.368 0.519 0.138 0.582 1
PI 0.337 0.055 0.301 0.261 0.359 0.439 1

Figure 8 Pearson’s correlation coefficient of the studied samples.

at all. (A variable correlated with it will always have a correla-
tion coefficient of 1).
Applying Pearson’s correlation analysis shows a strong
positive correlation between TOC and S1 and S2 (Table 4,
Fig. 8) indicates the contribution of S1 and S2 from TOC.
Furthermore, highly positive correlation between TOC and
HI (Fig. 8), highly negative correlation with oxygen index
and no correlation between TOC and Tmax (Fig. 8) and PI
indicate that the maturity of source rocks is independent of
the amount of organic matter [23]. Highly positive correlation
between S1 and S2 (Fig. 8) and also between S2 and HI in
addition to no correlation between Tmax and HI (Fig. 8) illus-
trate that the highest HI occurs at certain maturities and does
not occur in stages of less maturity or over maturity. Highly
negative reverse correlation between HI and OI was also
shown (Fig. 8).
Organic matters, hydrocarbon potential and thermal maturity of source rocks
5. Conclusions
The geochemical and statistical analyses for evaluating source
rocks in Ras Gharib oilfield show that:
1. The Cretaceous source rocks are poor to good source rocks
with kerogen of type III and are capable of generating gas.
2. The Miocene source rocks are good to excellent source
rocks with kerogen of type III–II and type II and are
capable of generating oil and gas.
3. Applying Hierarchical cluster analyses on the studied sam-
ples shows two clusters reflect two types of source rocks.
Cluster I are source rocks characterized by HI >300
(mg/g), TOC from 0.76 to11.63 wt%, S1 from 0.44 to
9.49 (mg/g) and S2 from 2.59 to 79.61 (mg/g) indicating
good to excellent source rocks with kerogen of type III–II
and type II and are capable of generating oil and gas.
Cluster II are source rocks characterized by HI <300
(mg/g), TOC from 0.31 to 2.07 wt%, S1 from 0.17 to 1.29
(mg/g) and S2 from 0.31 to 3.34 (mg/g) indicating poor
to good source rocks with kerogen of type III and are
capable of generating gas.
4. Applying factor analysis on Rock–Eval pyrolysis variables
shows that there are three factors affecting the evaluation
of source rocks. Factor ‘‘1’’ includes variables TOC
‘‘wt%’’, S1, S2 which determine the organic richness and
hydrocarbon potentiality of source rocks and also HI which
determine the type of organic matter that characterizes
source rock. Factor 2 and Factor 3 include variables PI
and Tmax which reflect the maturity of source rocks.
5. Pearson’s correlation analysis shows a strong positive
correlation between TOC and S1 and S2 indicates the
contribution of S1 and S2 from TOC. Furthermore, highly
positive correlation between TOC and HI, highly negative
correlation with oxygen index and no correlation between
TOC and Tmax and PI indicate that the maturity of source
rocks is independent of the amount of organic matter.
6. Highly positive correlation between S1 and S2 and also
between S2 and HI in addition to, no correlation between
Tmax and HI illustrate that the highest HI occurs at certain
maturities and doesn’t occur in stages of less maturity or
over maturity.
7. Highly negative reverse correlation between HI and OI was
also shown.
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